


Babysitting in the Bookshop

by sherlockruiningmylife



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Aziraphale's Bookshop (Good Omens), Babysitting, Crowley is Good With Kids (Good Omens), Cute, Humor, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), Nanny Crowley (Good Omens), Other, POV Outsider
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-01
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-13 20:34:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29781720
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlockruiningmylife/pseuds/sherlockruiningmylife
Summary: Audrey is a single parent desperate for a good babysitter. She takes her daughter Margret to the bookshop one day to have a look around, there she meets two strange men. Something compels her to ask them to watch Marg, was that a good choice? Hard to tell.
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 65





	Babysitting in the Bookshop

**Author's Note:**

> I wanted to do something else with this story initially but it got away from me. I kind of began to love Audrey, Marg, and Sam so I may come back to them and their adventures with Crowley and Mr. Fell.   
> Also, the names were basically random, first ones I could think that weren't awful.

“Oh, hello there. I don’t think you’re gonna be safe here. Let’s bring you in.”

“Marg, who are you talking to dear?”

“The little mouse mummy. It’s gonna get all cold and wet out here.”

Audrey sighed and squat down next to Marg to look at the critter, “I think that is actually a shrew. Regardless, we have to leave the animals outside, they are adapted to the weather. Indoors is no place for a wild animal.”

“But it could get hurt, please, I just want to keep it safe.”

“No dear, and I really don’t know where you are getting these ideas from.”

“It’s Mr. Fell that’s taught me ‘bout the animals. And Mr. Crowley likes to say plants are better. They say to watch out for all the little things of the world.”

Ah. Now that made sense.

***

They had just moved into a new flat in Soho. Audrey was a single parent and did her best to raise Margret in a stable loving environment. She tried to foster education as much as she could. She wanted the world to be open to Margret and knew that a good education was the best place to start.

But she was always so busy. Audrey worked as the lead software developer for an up-and-coming firm in the city. She loved her job, and it paid well enough, but it took up most of her time. Marg was enrolled in preschool. Audrey had made sure that it was a good center that took good care of the kids. On her own though, that was all the more she could afford to look for.

Audrey tried to take Marg out to places around the city on the weekends to learn. She wanted to make learning an adventure but didn’t have a clue where to start. They went to museums and she showed her the world’s ancient artifacts. She took her daughter to zoos and aquariums to learn about nature and biology. And she took her to bookshops.

One weekend, Audrey had decided that she would take Marg to a shop where the books would all be more expensive than anything she had ever touched. She had passed the store countless times but had never gone in. From the looks of it, it didn’t see a lot of foot traffic. She figured it made most of its money on book restorations because she had never seen anyone leave the store with more than they entered with.

Regardless, she wanted to take Marg there to gain an appreciation for books. Even if they couldn’t afford them, they could look. Audrey always marveled at antique books. Her favorite thing was when she skimmed through a book many decades older than her and would come across writing from the original owner. It was a bit like a time machine, to see what the first person to hold the book thought while reading it. Sometimes too, odd things might fall out of a book that hadn’t been touched for the last half-century. She was hoping that the shop owner might let them look through a few of the old books. She was a bit worried though. Marg was a well-behaved three-and-a-half-year-old, but she was still, only, three-and-a-half.

As they approached A.Z. Fell and Co. at eleven on a Saturday morning, Audrey began to wonder if the shop was open. The sign had been flipped to open, but from the street, it looked stuffy and dark. It always looked a bit worn-out to Audrey. But this morning it seemed darker than normal. With Marg holding one hand she reached for the door with the other and pushed it open.

“Hello?” She asked, not seeing anyone.

From around a shelf came a middle-aged man in a suit that looked as old as the shop. He had turned the corner swiftly, with a fierce glare, but upon seeing Margret his gaze softened. “Oh, hello my dears, are you lost?”

“No, sorry, is the shop open? It’s just, the sign said open and the door was unlocked but we can come back some other time.” Audrey began.

The man looked a bit put out. He then glanced back at Margret and seemed apprehensive, “We are open.” He said flatly.

“Good,” Audrey brightened she could understand the man’s worry. Children did tend to be a hazard, so she stooped to pick up Margret before continuing, “I’m Audrey Pashaei and this is Margret. We are new to the area and I wanted to come by to see this shop.”

After having picked up Marg, the man seemed to relax a little. And with Audrey’s explanation, he settled into a less rigid posture, “Oh good, so you aren’t here to buy anything.”

It wasn’t so much a question as a statement but Audrey responded anyway, “Er. No, sorry. I don’t think I could afford anything in here anyway.”

This earned a smile, “Well it is a pleasure to meet you Audrey. How long have you been in this borough?”

“Not long, only a couple weeks. I have been trying to take Marg here out every weekend to explore a bit. Trying to find good educational places to take her, and I figured, well, where better than a bookshop.”

The man chuckled and beamed now, “Quite right my dear. I would prefer it though if she didn’t touch any of the books, but I’d be more than happy to show you a few. Would you like to sit? I’ll put on the kettle and we can have tea.”

This was obviously the owner, and Audrey found him to be quite a pleasant man. She smiled and followed him back to his sitting area. For some reason, she felt compelled to trust this man, because this was certainly not something that she would normally do. But something about the owner just felt safe, after his initial icy glare had receded.

He shuffled over with tea and some biscuits that Marg happily took and began to nibble. Crumbs went everywhere but before Audrey could apologize the man said, “oh, it is not a bother, really.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t think I’ve asked you what your name is?”

“Ah. Of course, it is Mr. Fell.”

“Like the name of the shop? Is it a family business then?”

“Er, yes, you could say that.”

Then, before Audrey could ask what Mr. Fell meant by that, she heard the sound of the door. They both turned to look as a tall scrawny man waltzed in and shouted, “ANGEL, it’s awfully dark in here, trying to dissuade customers again are ye’.”

It wasn’t a question, instead it was more of just the thoughts in the man’s mind coming out without much of a warning. He didn’t seem to mind though as he kept walking in as Mr. Fell stood up.

“Ah, that would be Crowley,” he said by way of explanation to Audrey, then turning toward the man he said, “Crowley dear, what are you doing here? I wasn’t expecting you till this evening.”

“Yeah, well, Angel, got bored. Plants were being tetchy, so I thought you might want to go early.”

This Crowley hadn’t noticed Audrey yet. Marg still sat happily eating a biscuit and hadn’t seemed to notice the newcomer either.

“It doesn’t start till eight, what good would going early do?” Mr. Fell was asking the dark man.

“Well, we could get lunch then, dunno, feed the ducks?”

Marg, who had been blissfully unaware of anything except the food in front of her perked up at the mention of ducks. They were her favorite animal, as were cats, dogs, sheep, mice, swans, frogs, and any other animal she happened to see.

“Ducks! Mummy, I want to feed the ducks!”

Crowley nearly jumped when Margret began speaking. Not having seen her before, he had been wholly unprepared, “Zira, you’ve got customers?”

“No.” Said Mr. Fell plainly, “I have guests.”

“Riiight” The man didn’t seem to know what to do with this, so he sidled over and sat in one of the vacant chairs. Well, sat may not be the best-suited description for what the man did. It was closer to a sprawl over the small chair. He made the chair look less like the plush cushion it was and more like a throne.

“So, who are you?” He said to Audrey without removing his sunglasses.

“Audrey, we just moved in nearby and wanted to see the place, if we’re intruding, we can come back some other time.” Audrey looked back and forth between the man and Mr. Fell.

The two responded simultaneously.

Crowley replied, “Oh good, off you go then.” With a flick of his wrist.

While Mr. Fell responded, “No rush dears, stay as long as you like.”

As they spoke, Mr. Fell gave Crowley a reprimanding glare and the man in the chair sulked.

“Well, as I said, there is really no hurry. We haven’t got anything until this _evening,_ right dear?”

“Yeah, sure.”

“Mummy,” Marg was looking at Crowley still with some amount of excitement but then turned to Audrey to ask, “are we gonna go feed the ducks now?”

Audrey sighed, “We can go do that in a little.”

“Okay!” said Margret happily and continued to snack.

Crowley, who still seemed restless, stood up and declared, “How about we go feed the ducks now.”

Both Mr. Fell and Audrey looked confused by this. Audrey wasn’t planning to go with practical strangers to the park to feed the ducks. And Mr. Fell, for his part, didn’t seem to want to do this either. But after looking at the man, he seemed to resign himself to the idea.

“Well, Audrey, would that be alright?”

All eyes were on her now. If she had to rank the most bizarre moments of her life, this would definitely land somewhere high on the list. But as she looked from the pleading face of her child, to the restless but excited face of the man called Crowley, to the twinkling eyes of Mr. Fell, she knew there was only one response she could give, “Yeah, alright.”

Everyone beamed, she was suddenly the hero of the day. This wasn’t what she had expected to get out of the trip to the shop, but she supposed it was better than just about anything she had expected. The group of them got up and made their way to the exit. As they left, Mr. Fell flipped the sign to closed and locked the door. Then they made their way to St. James’ Park.

As they walked, Audrey talked to Mr. Fell some more. He was a very pleasant man and she enjoyed his company. She wasn’t sure yet what to feel about Crowley. She also wasn’t sure what his relation to Mr. Fell was. But she wasn’t going to ask, at least not yet.

She learned that the bookshop had been there since the 1800s. Mr. Fell told Audrey all about his collection. He spoke as if he had been there to buy each and every first edition. He prided himself over the autographed first editions in particular and told stories as if he had been there when the books were signed. Audrey figured they must have just been stories passed down through the generations as the bookshop had been passed along. She started to gather that he really didn’t sell any of the books. So, she assumed he must do a lot of restoration work. Either that or he had inherited a large amount of money and just survived off of that.

Audrey had a growing list of questions as they talked. She told him about what she did for a living. She explained her weekend trips with Margret and talked about the other places they’d visited.

“I am just so busy during the week that I feel like I hardly get to see her, you know.”

Mr. Fell just shook his head at this and gave an empathetic look.

As they approached the park, she suddenly felt the need to ask, “Do you have any kids Mr. Fell?”

Crowley laughed, having overheard the question even though he was several strides ahead, “Ha. Can you imagine? Zira raising a kid! I did all of the childcare stuff with Warlock, you just hovered about.”

“Well, there wasn’t much I could do dear, there are only so many jobs, and you had already been assigned to Nanny.”

“Yeah, but a gardener? What kid is going to go be friends with a gardener?”

Audrey wasn’t following any of this conversation. She was a bit worried about interrupting but curiosity got the better of her, “I’m sorry, but who’s Warlock?”

Mr. Fell still looked put out after Crowley’s comments, “Oh don’t worry about it dear, just a kid _we_ helped raise for a few years.”

“But it wasn’t your kid?”

“No.” Mr. Fell looked somehow embarrassed. Crowley still looked smug.

“Then whose kid were they?”

It was Crowley that responded this time, “The American ambassador’s. Zira here was their gardener, though he likes to claim that he had a big hand in raising Warlock. That was really my job, I was his nanny.”

The more they talked, the more lost Audrey got, “So… was this before you took over the bookshop? And is that how you two met?”

“No.” They both responded in unison. It wasn’t defensive, it was just simply an answer. Answers to both questions she could only assume.

“Right, okay.”

They were walking into the park then. Audrey suddenly realized that she had nothing to feed the ducks with. As she was about to say something, Crowley pulled a bag of corn out of his tight jacket. Audrey felt like this was something she would have noticed before since the man wore incredibly tight clothing, so she rationalized that she must have just missed it.

Crowley stopped by the pond and several ducks and geese headed in their direction. He picked up a handful of corn and tossed it into the water. The ducks greedily devoured the corn then turned back and paddled closer. Crowley bent down, level with Marg, and offered the bag. She happily took the offered feed and started tossing a couple kernels out. She giggled as the ducks fought over the food and delighted in the activity. She squealed as she saw a fish come up and take some of the food off of the surface and began jumping up and down.

“Mummy, did you see that! A GIANT fish just ate it! Can I please have some more Mr. Crowley?”

Audrey smiled as Margret threw more corn out for the ducks. She noticed that Mr. Fell was watching Crowley with a fond smile as well. She turned to Mr. Fell and asked, “Is Crowley still a nanny then? The preschool I take Margret to doesn’t meet on Fridays so I’ve been looking for someone to watch her. I can’t pay much, in fact, it would probably look like nothing next to the ambassador’s money,” she gave a nervous laugh and thought to herself, what am I doing, “but they seem to get along well and I could use a stable sitter right now.”

“Oh! Well, he hasn’t done that for a few years now. And I don’t know that I’d describe him as stable per se.”

“Hey! I can hear you Angel. But, yeah haven’t done that in a while. Could though.”

“Really my dear?” This had seemed to take Mr. Fell by surprise, “Where would you watch her, she certainly wouldn’t want to spend the day at your place. It really is such a drab old flat.”

“It is _stylish_ Angel, though she probably wouldn’t be a good influence on my plants, be too kind to them.”

Mr. Fell rolled his eyes, Audrey quickly realized she was in over her head, “The sitters I usually have just watch Margret at my flat. That is what I had in mind at least.”

“That’d work.”

Mr. Fell huffed, “But what if you needed help dear?”

“I wouldn’t, not like you’re any help anyway.”

The conversation was quickly escaping from Audrey and they were talking about her kid! She inserted herself again and said, “Well, Mr. Fell, I figured you would be running your shop. But I wouldn’t mind if you both watched her. Though I can’t pay double, don’t have the money for that.”

Internally she was yelling at herself. Why was she trusting these two complete strangers to watch her child? Sure, she knew where Mr. Fell would be if she needed to contact him. But she didn’t know much about him, and she knew almost nothing about this other man named Crowley. She wasn’t even sure if that was his first or last name, or maybe it was only a nickname. But her gut told her to trust them. She wasn’t sure how reliable her gut was but couldn’t seem to fight against it.

As if he had just had some brilliant epiphany, Crowley excitedly declared, “We could watch her at the bookshop Angel!”

Mr. Fell did not look terribly pleased with this idea, but having walked himself into the situation as it was, he decided not to argue it. Resignedly he sighed, “I suppose we could clear the backroom; we would take her out to the park most days anyway, right dear?”

“Sure Zira.” Crowley was giving a victorious smile to the other man.

Mr. Fell returned a small glare to the man and then turned back to Audrey and smiled, “Well, I think we’ve got that all settled then.”

“Er. Right, thanks,” Audrey needed some time to process the entire sequence of events that had just unfolded. She added lamely, “So I’ll just drop her off at eight next Friday then?”

“That’ll be splendid,” beamed Mr. Fell.

***

“Sam, I’ve got to tell you about my weekend. Promise that you won’t call me a bad mother first though”

Sam had just walked into work and sat down to drink their coffee when they were suddenly ambushed by Audrey and sighed. There went their quiet morning, “Alright, sure. Wouldn’t dare say that anyway, Lord knows I couldn’t handle a kid. So, what happened?”

Audrey took a big breath and began, “well,” Sam sat back in their chair. They listened to her story of the strange encounter with the bookshop owner and the tall dark fellow. At the end of it, Sam sat up and said, “Yeah, that is definitely a little weird, why’d you ask them to watch Marg anyway?”

“I don’t know! Mr. Fell was telling me that Crowley had been a nanny and then Marg was all excited over feeding the ducks, and it just seemed like the natural thing to do. It doesn’t make any sense, I know.” Audrey shook her head then added, “And you know, I don’t even know if Crowley is that man’s first or last name…”

Sam smiled, “That feels like something that you might have wanted to clarify. But if you are looking for me to validate your decision, I can’t say that I understand what happened there, but I get that it is stressful to find a sitter. I really do. And look at it this way, you said you felt like you could trust Mr. Fell right? And you’ll be taking Marg to his bookshop. A bookshop sounds pretty safe to me, it is public so they can’t do anything without the risk of someone walking in. And if something happens, you know that he owns the shop, so he would be pretty easy to track down. Even just with public records, I’m sure. But, maybe if you’re worried about it, stay for a while Friday morning, and go by at your lunch break. Keep them accountable.”

“Yeah you’re right Sam… Do you think that I should look them up? They said they worked for an American ambassador, surely I can find something on them?”

“Maybe start by just looking up the bookshop since you don’t know Mr. Fell’s first name and next to nothing about the Crowley guy.”

“Yeah good idea,” Audrey began to walk to her office, then turned back, “Do you think… Would it be too inconvenient, and sorry if it is asking too much, you don’t have to say yes. But do you think that you could, maybe, come with me when I drop Marg off on Friday?”

“Oh. Well, sure Audrey. How early would that be?”

“I said I’d be there at eight, so maybe seven-thirty or so, it isn’t far from my place.”

“Yeah, of course. I’ll plan on that. Be interesting to meet these people anyway,” Sam smiled reassuringly back at Audrey. She smiled in return and thanked them then went to her office.

***

On Friday, Audrey, Margret, and Sam walked to A.Z. Fell & Co. together. They had stopped in a bakery to grab some breakfast and were nearly at the shop. When they got to the door, the sign still said closed so Audrey reached up and knocked on the shop door. They could hear voices behind the closed door that seemed to be in the middle of an argument. The knock went unheard so Audrey tried again, this time, through the door, they could hear a voice approaching saying, “Oh, oh dear, is it eight already?”

After a moment the door opened and Mr. Fell beamed out at them, he took in Audrey, Margret, and Sam then said, “So sorry about that, the time got away from me. Do come in.”

“No worries, is everything alright though?” asked Audrey, “And is Crowley here, I thought I heard him.”

“Yes, he’s just upstairs changing,” Mr. Fell tsked chidingly then continued, “he was wearing his ‘nanny outfit’ when he arrived. I told him there was no need for the formality but he insisted. I’ve finally just convinced him to go change.”

“What’s a nanny outfit?” Sam asked with amusement.

“Oh, it is really quite silly. It is the dress and hat he wore when he was a nanny years ago. He wore it then because it was expected of a nanny for an ambassador’s kid. But I told him that you, Audrey, didn’t mind him being a man _and_ a nanny so there was really no need. Plus, he always complained about how that dress limited his mobility. Instead of just changing, he decided to argue with me about the culture of nannies. Really, he can be quite silly.”

Neither Audrey nor Sam really knew how to respond to this. Audrey gave Sam a look to indicate something along the lines of, “see what I mean, weirdest experience of my life”

Sam gave a look back that read as, “I am so lost, what is Mr. Fell talking about”

When they got to the shop’s backroom Mr. Fell turned back to Sam, “Oh dear me, where are my manners? I was so flustered over Crowley that I didn’t ask your name dear. Are you Audrey’s partner?”

“I’m Sam, and no, just a coworker. Live nearby and thought I’d got with Audrey to work today.”

“Oh well, that’s lovely,” Mr. Fell beamed.

They entered the backroom where Audrey and Margret had sat for tea the weekend before. It was practically spotless now. The chairs were still there, but the bookshelves that had lined the walls were now gone. Audrey felt it was excessive to remove the shelves instead of just the books. It seemed that Mr. Fell was feeling a bit paranoid. He had also put up a baby-gate at the doorway to the stairs and the one that led into the shop. There were a few things on the floor that might have passed for kid’s toys. There were blocks that were all black and white. There were toy cars that looked alarmingly like their corresponding real-world models. And there were toy ships with a stunning amount of detail on them. As Audrey looked at all the things in the room, she felt embarrassed at the toys she had brought with them for Margret. Everything that these men had looked like it had come from very expensive magazines. They were the kinds of toys that she would expect to see in cases as collectables.

Crowley could be heard coming back down the stairs. He stepped easily over the gate and into the room.

“Hullo,” he said to Audrey, then to Mr. Fell he said, “happy Zira?”

Crowley had changed into essentially the exact same outfit he’d been wearing when they first met. But, if Audrey was remembering correctly, his hair was now several inches longer. She wondered if he had extensions put in just for his nanny bit, and found herself feeling guilty that Mr. Fell made him change.

“Yes dear, you look lovely.” Mr. Fell smiled at Crowley, then back to the room as a whole, he said, “well, don’t want to keep you all morning.”

“Right, yeah,” Audrey began, “so, um, I brought a lunch for Marg and some toys. I was thinking I’ll stop by around lunchtime just to make sure everything’s alright. Then I get off work at five so I will be back around then. She doesn’t have any allergies just don’t give her too many sweets,” as she said this Crowley gave Mr. Fell ‘a look’ and Mr. Fell looked guilty, “I don’t usually have meetings at work on Fridays so feel free to call me whenever you need to. Here’s my number,” she held out a piece of paper she had written on before to Mr. Fell. He did not seem to want to take it, and Crowley was already up next to him to receive the paper. He deftly got out his phone and made a deliberate show of punching the number in. Audrey looked down at Marg who was already picking up a toy helicopter that looked like it had very life-like blades on it, then returned to the two men, “oh, and I feel silly about this, but what are both of your names. Like full names, I just don’t think I caught them the other day. And could I get a number for you in case I need to call.”

Crowley spoke first and said, “Just sent a message, now you have my number. Angel here only has an old rotary phone so you probably don’t want that.” Mr. Fell gave a sheepish embarrassed smile, “Name’s Anthony J. Crowley.”

“You are still using the J dear?”

“Yeah, why not Angel?” The two began bickering again.

Sam smirked and interrupted, “What’s the J stand for?”

“Uh, it’s just a J,” replied Anthony.

“He thought it sounded _cool_ ” admonished Mr. Fell.

“Right,” Audrey cleared her throat, “and you Mr. Fell, what’s your first name?”

“Oh, well, I guess it’s Zira,” the man spluttered.

“You guess?” asked Sam, they wondered if the man was making up his name just then. That was something that Sam felt they should be worried about.

“It is Zira, but no one uses that,” replied Anthony by way of explanation, “just like everyone calling me Crowley.”

“Right, okay, well thanks. Um, did you have any questions for me before we left?” inquired Audrey.

“Nah, I think we’re good” responded Crowley.

“We will call if there’s any trouble,” reassured Mr. Fell.

“And Marg,” Audrey directed at her daughter, who had already built a tower of blocks and was pushing a miniature tank into them to make them come crashing down, “you be good and listen to Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley, alright?”

“Yes, mummy. Did you see my tower!”

“Yeah I did Marg, good job.”

After another short discussion on the way through the shop with Mr. Fell, Sam and Audrey found themselves back on the pavement.

“Well, I see what you mean, they are… odd. But I don’t think you have anything to worry about with them,” pronounced Sam.

“Yeah, they are quite strange. You know, when I was there on Saturday, that entire room was filled with bookshelves. I can’t imagine that they had room for all of those elsewhere.”

“Hm,” hummed Sam in thought, “Do you think they’re a couple?”

“Honestly, I have no idea. It seems like it, but they seem to have known each other for decades and don’t live together, so maybe not?”

***

When Audrey returned at lunch, she found that the bookshop sign still said closed. She tried the door and it was unlocked so she entered and called out a greeting. She saw Mr. Fell come out from the backroom and beam at her. He waved enthusiastically and she followed him back. When she got to the backroom, he mimed for her to be quiet. She looked in and saw that Marg was taking a nap on the couch. She also saw Crowley sprawled in a corner fast asleep too.

Mr. Fell smiled, “she’s been great, it seems that Crowley’s forgotten how much work it is to take care of a child. And he says I don’t do anything. Marg just went to sleep, Crowley played with her this morning and then we had lunch. They had quite the city built out of the blocks.”

Audrey was smiling too, as she looked about there seemed to be three times as many blocks as there had been earlier this morning. And they were infinitely more complex now. There were artfully crafted spires for churches. And there were ornate columns that replicated those of ancient Rome. She said to Mr. Fell, “They must have been working hard, I can never get her to go down for a nap this early.”

“Yes, she said she wasn’t tired but fell asleep as soon as she sat on the couch. Should we get a cot for her? I am afraid I don’t really know what to expect when sitting outside of homes.”

“Oh, no, no worries, I think she’ll be just fine on the couch. It is only one day a week anyway. I can bring some blankets next time, but no need to spend any money on something like that. Really, you are doing me a huge favor as it is.”

Mr. Fell seemed to consider this and dropped it for the time being. He seemed like a stubborn man though, so she wouldn’t be surprised if a cot did turn up.

“Well, I better be getting back to work. I am glad everything is going well, be back around five.” Then as Audrey was walking back out, she remembered, “Oh, and I don’t know if you realized, but the sign still says closed. Please don’t miss out on business on account of us.”

“Oh! I forgot, oh well no sense in opening it now,” smiled Mr. Fell mischievously, he did not seem upset that he was going to miss a day’s worth of customers. Again, Audrey wondered how the shop had survived this long. But she didn’t want to look a gift-horse in the mouth so she shrugged, smiled, and waved goodbye.

***

At the end of her workday, she picked up a nice bottle of wine on the way to the bookshop. She had also withdrawn some cash to pay Mr. Fell and Mr. Crowley for the day. She wished she had something more because she really was grateful for everything they were doing. Maybe by next week, she thought, she could get something better.

When she entered the shop again Audrey noted, to no surprise, that the sign still said closed. What she found though, when she made it to the backroom, did surprise her. It seemed that Mr. Fell had decided on a change of clothes for the afternoon. Mr. Crowley did not look particularly pleased.

Mr. Fell was now wearing a black suit jacket with a golden waistcoat. He also had on a patterned silk cravat and had apparently drawn on a small moustache. There was a black top hat sitting on a table nearby, and he was currently pulling a long rainbow handkerchief out of his sleeve. Margret was giggling and clapping with delight, while Mr. Crowley sat with his head in his hands. Mr. Fell beamed.

“See Crowley dear, she appreciates talent.”

“It’s not even good magic Angel. I don’t know why you insist on doing the silly human stuff when you could do something like this. Here, Margret look.”

Margret turned to Mr. Crowley and watched as he took a coin from seemingly nowhere. Audrey thought to herself, while standing in the doorway just out of their sight, that that wasn’t a particularly novel trick. It seemed that Mr. Crowley just liked to complain about everything Mr. Fell did, which certainly didn’t surprise Audrey.

“Just because you didn’t do that the same way I did,” began Mr. Fell, “doesn’t make it any better.”

Margret was clapping, and watching as Anthony flipped the coin from finger to finger.

“Up-up-up Angel, I wasn’t done.” Mr. Fell simply sighed in response but continued to watch Mr. Crowley.

Mr. Crowley took the coin and showed it to Marg. Then he took it back into his hand and flipped it. As it twirled in the air, it changed. It had started out as a copper two-pence coin, but while it was in the air it seemed to grow and shift in color. As it landed on Crowley’s outstretched hand it became a nickel two-pound coin. Marg giggled but didn’t seem as interested in this as she had in the handkerchief. Mr. Fell rolled his eyes in a dramatic fashion and said, “Well yes dear, that does _look_ rather impressive, but it’s not very honest.”

“Since, when have I ever cared about that Angel?” Mr. Crowley looked aghast, “Did you ever take me for an honest being? Anyway, it’s not like that was too extravagant, just enough to make people wonder. Isn’t that right Audrey?”

Audrey jumped; she cursed that man’s damned glasses. She had no idea that he had been able to see her. And the glasses added to the impossibility of reading that man’s expression. She stepped into view and awkwardly began, “Uh, yeah that was really cool. How’d you do that? And sorry, I wasn’t there long, promise. I just didn’t want to disturb you…”

“Can’t tell you that, where’d be the fun?” frowned Mr. Crowley.

“Right, yeah, magician’s secret. Gonna teach Marg any of those tricks?”

“Oh that is a lovely idea!” exclaimed Mr. Fell.

Anthony went back to having his head in his hands and shook it slowly while Mr. Fell collected his magician’s kit, “DON’T. Encourage him,” Crowley said emphatically.

“Mum, mum, mum, did you see the magic show! They are real magicians mummy, they really do magic!”

“Yes, I’m sure dear, it was quite cool,” Audrey smiled warmly at her. Mr. Fell looked briefly like a deer caught in the headlights but quickly schooled his expression before Audrey could see.

They gathered up what Audrey was bringing home with them and she gave the two the money and bottle of wine. Crowley gave a toothy grin to the wine and rose an eyebrow at Mr. Fell.

“Zira, looks like we’ve got our plan for the evening.”

Mr. Fell blushed, “I surely don’t know what you are talking about dear,” he addressed the other man, then turned to Audrey and said, “Thank you so much my dear, this really wasn’t necessary, it was our pleasure. No trouble at all.”

“No, no, you don’t know how much this meant to me, Marg had a great time and you have both been so kind to do this. I really can’t thank you enough. I feel like this isn’t enough, I’ll bring something else next time.”

Crowley, who had already found a bottle opener for the wine said, “Wine’s always good, can’t say no to that.”

“Crowley dear, you could at least wait,” reprimanded Mr. Fell.

“Gotta let it breathe Angel.”

Zira sighed, “Anyway, it is no trouble at all, we are happy to help. Come by anytime, and don’t fret over it.”

“Gosh, you are getting a better invitation than I do,” mumbled Mr. Crowley as he walked towards the stairs.

“Is next week going to be alright? Same time? I really hope it isn’t asking too much. And please, don’t keep the shop closed on account of Marg.”

“Oh, don’t worry about it, next week would be lovely!”

“Great,” replied Audrey, she saw Mr. Crowley coming back down the stairs with a couple of wine glasses and chocolates. She felt that it was definitely time for her and Margret to be going. It seemed that Crowley had plans, and they were not ones suited for the presence of children. As she made her way quickly to the door with Margret, she turned back to say thanks one more time. She saw that Crowley had nearly draped himself over Mr. Fell and Mr. Fell, for his part, looked infinitely embarrassed. Well, she thought, that answered that question. She reasoned that Mr. Fell, at the very least, was a modest man, so she wasn’t terribly concerned, simply amused. She smiled and waved instead of saying anything as they walked out the door. She closed it firmly behind her and after a second heard it lock.

**Author's Note:**

> Guys, there is no parenting shame here. I once got a babysitting job under sketchier circumstances than this. I hadn't even met the mom and she messaged me her garage code and left me house keys and her five kids. Trust me, it is super hard to find stable sitters for kids...


End file.
